Methods, Systems, and Products for Assessing Risks of Internet Searches

ABSTRACT

A risk associated with an Internet search is determined. Once a search result of the Internet search has been obtained, the risk is determined based on the search result.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/916,640 filed Jun. 13, 2013 and since issued as U.S. Pat. No. ______,which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/524,074 filedJun. 15, 2012 and since issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,489,593, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/205,377 filed Sep. 5, 2008and since issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,229,926, which is a continuation ofU.S. application Ser. No. 10/820,411 filed Apr. 8, 2004 and since issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 7,433,864, with all these applications incorporatedherein by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates generally to data processing and, moreparticularly, to searching and compiling information.

BACKGROUND

Due to the ease of publishing material on the Internet (also referred toas the worldwide web or, simply, “the web”), the web has become avirtual storehouse for a variety of information. Of particular concernis personal information that is published on the web, such as, forexample, an individual's name, telephone number, email address, socialsecurity number, home address, etc. The reason for concern is that thepublished information poses a risk to the individual by exposing theindividual to identity theft, unsolicited email (also referred to as“spam”), invasion of privacy, or other security concerns.

Given the plethora of information available on the web, it would beuseful to be able to gather and effectively compile personal informationin order to assess an individual's vulnerability to theabove-identified, and other, security concerns.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for compilinginformation obtained by combinatorial searching.

Briefly described, some embodiments, among others, include a search forsensitive information. Once a result of the search has been obtained, ascore is assigned to the obtained result in accordance with a predefinedcriterion.

Other systems, devices, methods, features, and advantages will be orbecome apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of thefollowing drawings and detailed description. It is intended that allsuch additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be includedwithin this description, and be within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the disclosure can be better understood with referenceto the following drawings. The components in the drawings are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearlyillustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in thedrawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a system forperforming a combinatorial search and compiling the results of thesearch.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of components of thememory of FIG. 1, which are configured to perform the combinatorialsearch and the information compilation.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a method for performing acombinatorial search and compiling the results of the search.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing, in greater detail, the step of searchingfor sensitive information, from FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing, in greater detail, the step of assigningthe score, from FIG. 3.

FIG. 6A is an embodiment of a report showing results obtained from thesearch.

FIG. 6B is another embodiment of a report showing results obtained fromthe search.

FIG. 6C is an embodiment of a report showing compiled results.

FIG. 7 is an embodiment of a graphical user interface (GUI) that permitsuser entry of information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference is now made in detail to the description of the embodiments asillustrated in the drawings. While several embodiments are described inconnection with these drawings, there is no intent to limit theinvention to the embodiment or embodiments disclosed herein. On thecontrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, andequivalents.

As noted above, it is useful to be able to gather and compile sensitiveinformation in order to assess an individual's vulnerability to varioussecurity concerns. One approach, among others, to assessing anindividual's vulnerability to various security concerns is to emulatethe behavior of a would-be spammer or other Internet delinquent. Asdescribed in greater detail below, in some embodiments, among others, aspammer's behavior is emulated by searching for sensitive information,and generating a report from the results of the search. For someembodiments, the search is conducted in accordance with various searchcriteria. In generating the report, the results of the search areassigned various scores or weights, which are then analyzed to determinean individual's vulnerability to various security concerns.

Embodiments of systems and methods are described below with reference toFIGS. 1 through 6C.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a system forperforming a combinatorial search and compiling the results of thesearch. As shown in FIG. 1, in one embodiment, among others, the systemis implemented by a personal computer 110 (also referred to herein as aworkstation). The workstation 110 includes a processor 130, memory 150,a local storage device 160 (e.g., hard drive, removable floppy drive,compact disc drive, digital versatile disc drive, etc.), and a networkinterface 140, all communicating over a bus 170. The memory 150typically includes the operating system (not shown), which is typicallystored in non-volatile memory while the computer 110 is turned off, andloaded into volatile memory upon start-up, where it can be executed bythe processor 130. In the present embodiment, the computer 110 isconfigured to communicate over a network, such as the Internet, throughan I/O device, such as, for example, an analog modem, DSL modem, ISDNmodem, ethernet card, etc., which may be connected to the computer 110through the network interface 140. Since the general operation ofpersonal computers is known in the art, further discussion of thegeneral operation of the personal computer 110 is omitted here.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of components of thememory 150 of FIG. 1. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, those components areconfigured to search for sensitive information and compile any obtainedsearch results. As shown in FIG. 2, in one embodiment, among others, thememory 150 includes a combinatorial analysis program 260 (also referredto simply as “the program 260”), which searches for sensitiveinformation in accordance with one or more search criteria. In oneembodiment, among others, the program 260 searches the contents ofInternet web pages using web crawlers that are known in the art. Sincevarious approaches to searching Internet web pages are known in the art,further discussion of web-crawlers, and similar programs, is omittedhere. It should also be appreciated that the duration and scope of thesearch may be specified in accordance with known techniques, such asthose employed by various web-crawlers.

Additionally, the program 260 compiles any results that may be obtainedfrom the search. Specifically, for some embodiments, the program 260searches for sensitive information, such as, for example, a name, anemail address, a telephone number, a street address, a social securitynumber, and/or any other sensitive information. As is known, a user mayexplicitly provide the set of sensitive information. Alternatively, theset of sensitive information may be obtained from a predefined list. Insome embodiments, among others, the search is performed on the Internetor other networks, which may exhibit sensitive information. The program260 is configured to obtain the results of the search and assign scoresto the obtained results. In some embodiments, the scores are assigned inaccordance with one or more weighting factors or scoring criteria. Uponassigning scores to the obtained results, the program 260 is configuredto generate a report.

Once loaded into memory 150, the program 260 manifests itself as logicalcomponents within memory 150. These logical components include searchlogic 205, result logic 230, and score logic 235. Each of the logiccomponents corresponds to a computer-readable code (e.g., a routine or asub-routine) within the program 260. As such, the search logic 205 isconfigured to search for sensitive information in accordance withpredetermined search criteria. The criteria can include, for example, aname of an individual, an email address, a social security number, atelephone number, a street address, or any other personal informationassociated with an individual. Additionally, the criteria can includeone or more combinations of the individual items listed above.

In that regard, the search logic 205 can be further segmented intoitemized search logic 210 and combined search logic 220. The itemizedsearch logic 210 includes logic components 215 a . . . 215 n that areeach configured to search for a particular item. For example, the firstitem search logic 215 a can be configured to search for a name, while asecond item search logic 215 n can be configured to search for an emailaddress, and so on. It should be appreciated that the search logic 205instructs the processor 130 to search in accordance with predefinedcriteria. For example, email addresses may be searched by defining atext string to include a single “@” located within a contiguous stringof characters. Similarly, social security numbers may be searched bydefining a text string to include a nine-digit number with twointerposed dashes (“-”) after the third digit and the fifth digit,respectively.

The combined search logic 220 includes logic components 225 a . . . 225n that are each configured to search for various combinations of items.For example, the first combined search logic 225 a can be configured tosearch for occurrences in which both a name and a social security numberappear within the same document (e.g., within a single web page, withina single data file, etc.). Likewise, a second combined search logic 225n can be configured to search for occurrences in which both a socialsecurity number and a telephone number appear within the same document.It should be appreciated that a user can define the individual items,or, alternatively, the items can be obtained from a predefined list ofitems. Similarly, it should be appreciated that the user can define thepermutations and combinations for the various combined searches.

In addition to performing a direct string search, it should beappreciated that the search can be modified to include variants ofsensitive information. For example, a search for the name “Bob Smith”can include the variants “Robert Smith,” “B. Smith,” “R. Smith,” etc.Likewise, a search for a social security number may appear as a stringsearch for “123-45-6789” or “123456789.” Since one having skill in theart should understand how to define the variants of sensitiveinformation, further discussion of such variants, and approaches todefining such variants, is omitted here.

The result logic 230 is configured to obtain the results of the search,while the score logic 235 is configured to assign a score to theobtained results. Since, for some embodiments, the search can result inobtaining individual items as well as combined items, the score logic235 can be further segmented into itemized score logic 240 andcombinatorial score logic 250. The itemized score logic 240 isconfigured to assign a score to the itemized search results, while thecombinatorial search logic 250 is configured to assign a score to thecombined search results. Since multiple individual items, as well asmultiple combinations, can be searched, the itemized score logic 240 canfurther be divided into scoring logic 245 a . . . 245 n for each item.Similarly, since multiple combinatorial searches can be performed, thecombinatorial search logic 250 can be further divided into scoring logic255 a . . . 255 n for each combination.

Having described an embodiment of a system for searching for sensitiveinformation and analyzing the results, attention is turned to FIGS. 3through 5, which show various embodiments of methods to search for andcompile sensitive information.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of a method for performing acombinatorial search and compiling the results of the search. As shownin FIG. 3, one embodiment, among others, begins with the step ofsearching (310) for sensitive information. As noted above, the sensitiveinformation can include personal information associated with anindividual, as well as variants of that personal information. Typically,the sensitive information is searched in accordance with defined searchcriteria. The process continues by obtaining (320) the results of thesearch, and assigning (330) scores to the obtained results. The scoresare assigned in accordance with a predefined weighting factor. Uponassigning (330) scores to the obtained results, the process generates(340) a report of the scores.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 3 largely mimics the behavior of Internetdelinquents, who search for sensitive information in order to compilespam lists or other noxious databases. As such, the generated reportprovides a relatively good representation of an individual'svulnerability to various security concerns.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing, in greater detail, the step of searching(310) for sensitive information, from FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, thestep of searching (310) for sensitive information comprises, in someembodiments, the step of determining (410) the items of information forsearching. The items of information can include a name, a socialsecurity number, an email address, a telephone number, a street address,a credit card number, and/or other sensitive information. The items ofinformation can be determined (410) by obtaining user input, or,alternatively, by obtaining a predefined list from a database. Forembodiments that obtain user input, that input can be provided through agraphical user interface (GUI) with various input boxes. For example,when the GUI is provided to the user, the user can input a name, asocial security number, an email address, a street address, and/or avariety of other information. One example of a GUI is provided in FIG.7. The GUI of FIG. 7 provides a mechanism for inputting a telephonenumber, the last four digits of a social security number, and a zipcode. However, it should be appreciated that other fields may beprovided for the GUI. Since such GUIs are known in the art, furtherdiscussions of these, and other user-input mechanisms, are omitted here.It should also be appreciated that the GUI can implemented as a web pagethat is remotely accessible, or, alternatively, the GUI can be providedas a local client application. Additionally, it should be appreciatedthat, should a user input a finite amount of unique information aboutthat user, the system can be configured to access a pre-existingdatabase that has additional information related to that user. Thus, forexample, when a user inputs the telephone number and the zip code intothe GUI of FIG. 7, that information can be used to retrieve the user'sname, address, email, etc.

Upon determining (410) the items of information for searching, theprocess selects (420) the first item of information, and searches (430)for the selected item. In some embodiments, the search is performed onthe Internet. Upon completing the search, the process determines (440)whether or not all items of information have been searched. If there areadditional items to be searched, then the process selects (450) the nextitem of information, and searches (430) for that selected item. Thisprocess iteratively repeats itself until all items of information havebeen searched. It should be appreciated that the selection of an itemcan also include the selection of a combination of items. Since themodification of the flow of FIG. 4 to accommodate such a combined searchis apparent to one having skill in the art, further discussion of such amodification is omitted here.

Using a specific example, given a closed list of items, which includesname, social security number, email address, street address, and atelephone number, a user can assign the following parameters to theitems:

Name: Bob Smith

Social Security Number: 123-45-6789

Email Address: bsmith@bob.smith.com

Telephone Number: (404) 555-1234

Street Address: 123 Peachtree Street

Given these items of information, the process selects “Bob Smith” as thefirst item of information, and searches the Internet for “Bob Smith.”Upon completing the search, the process selects “123-45-6789” forsearching, since all items on the list have not yet been exhausted fromthe list. Once “123-45-6789” has been searched, “bsmith@bob.smith.com”is selected and searched, and so on until the last item, “123 PeachtreeStreet” has been selected and searched. Thereafter, the processcontinues to obtaining (320) the results of the search. It should beappreciated that the obtaining (320) of the results and the searching(310) for each item takes place in an alternating fashion. For example,typically, a first search is followed by a first result, a second searchis followed by a second result, and so on.

In addition to searching the individual items, the items can be combinedfor searching. For example, the process may select (“Bob Smith” AND“bsmith@bob.smith.com”), using the Boolean “AND” operation. Likewise,the street address and telephone number can be combined using Booleanoperators. As one can appreciate, any number of combinations of itemscan be searched.

Furthermore, while “Bob Smith” is provided as the “Name,” it should beappreciated that variants, such as, for example, “B. Smith,” “RobertSmith,” “R. Smith,” etc. can easily be substituted. For someembodiments, the variants can be substituted manually. For otherembodiments, the variants can be obtained from a database that listscommon variants. For example, a database that stores common variants canbe stored at a server, thereby providing access to the database to anyclient that is communicatively coupled to the server. As anotherexample, the database may be a local database that stores commonvariants. For yet other embodiments, a computer program that generatessuch variants can be utilized to produce the variants. Since programsthat determine various permutations of names are known in the art,further discussion of such programs is omitted here.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing, in greater detail, the step of assigning(330) the score, from FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 5, once the results ofthe search have been obtained (320), the process selects (510) the firstresult, and assigns (520) an individual score to the selected result inaccordance with a predefined criterion. Thereafter, the processdetermines (530) whether or not scores have been assigned to all of theresults. If the score has not been assigned to all of the results, thenthe next result is selected (540) and the process repeats until all ofthe items have been assigned a score. Once all of the items have beenassigned a score, the process calculates (550) a combinatorial score asa function of each of the individual scores.

In some embodiments, the score can be a direct reflection of the numberof occurrences of the item. For example, as shown in FIGS. 6A through6C, if a search for “Bob Smith” resulted in 34 occurrences, then thescore for “Bob Smith” would be 34. While such a direct approach isimplemented in a preferred embodiment, it should be appreciated that ascore can be assigned based on a variety of factors. For example, in thecontext of the Internet, the presence of an email address on theInternet may be a commonplace occurrence, while the presence of a socialsecurity number may be a rarer occurrence. Thus, a single occurrence ofa social security number may be assigned a greater significance than,say, five occurrences of an email address.

Similarly, a web site that has both name and the social security numbermay be assigned a greater weight or score, since that combinatorialoccurrence poses a greater vulnerability for an individual. It shouldalso be appreciated that, in addition to combinations, the proximity ofthe occurrences may provide different scores or weights. For example, aname that is located within five characters of a telephone number may begiven a greater weight than a name that is located more than 5,000characters from a telephone number, since a closer proximity suggeststhat the two are likely correlated.

In a preferred embodiment, the following combinations can be given aheightened score due to their corresponding risks:

An email address alone poses a risk of spam. With each occurrence of theemail address, the risk of spam increases.

A name in conjunction with a social security number poses a high risk ofidentity theft. That risk increases when the name and the socialsecurity number are located in close proximity (e.g., within fivecharacters) of each other.

A name and a street address, or a name and a telephone number, incombination poses a privacy risk, insofar as an individual's contactinformation is readily available.

In addition to the above-defined risks, a “linking” site may furtherheighten the score due to heightened security concerns. In other words,a search may produce two distinct web sites, each of which are benign,in and of themselves. However, the combination of results may produce aheightened risk. For example, a search may result in two web sites: onethat shows a combination of a name and an email address; and anotherthat shows a combination of the email address and a social securitynumber. Each of the web sites is relatively benign. However, since thetwo sites, combined, provide a link between the name and the socialsecurity number, the combination of the results may be given aheightened score due to the increased risk of identity theft.

As one can appreciate, the scoring of the results can be implemented ina variety of ways, depending on the security risks that are sought to beuncovered. Since those having skill in the art should appreciate thevarious approaches to assigning weights or scores to the obtainedresults, further discussion of the various approaches is omitted here.

FIGS. 6A through 6C shown an embodiment of a report showing resultsobtained from the search. Specifically, FIGS. 6A through 6C show theresults of the example illustrated above. As shown in FIG. 6A, theresults can include the various scores for the individual items, suchas, name, social security number, email address, telephone number, andstreet address. Since the illustrated example uses “Bob Smith” for thename, “123-45-6789” for the social security number,“bsmith@bob.smith.com” for the email address, “(404) 555-1234” for thetelephone number, and “123 Peachtree Street” for the street address, theindividual items of FIG. 6A reflect those specifically searched items.In that example, the search uncovered 34 occurrences of the name, 0occurrences of the social security number, 842 occurrences of the emailaddress, 4 occurrences of the telephone number, and 2 occurrences of thestreet address.

FIG. 6B shows scores that have been assigned to combined items. Forexample, the results of FIG. 6B show that, of the 34 occurrences of thename, 28 occurrences coincided with an email address. In other words, inthe context of the Internet, there were 28 web sites that included boththe name and the email address. Since the remaining combinations areself-evident in FIG. 6B, the reader is directed to FIG. 6B withoutfurther discussion of the combined items.

Given the results of FIGS. 6A and 6B, a final analysis of the results isshown in FIG. 6C. For this embodiment, only three areas of vulnerabilityare shown: identity theft, privacy, and spam. However, it should beappreciated that, for other embodiments, additional areas ofvulnerability may be added as a function of the individually searchedand obtained items. For FIG. 6C, since no occurrences resulted from thesearch of the social security number, the risk of identity theft isrelatively low. Also, since the name appears in combination with thetelephone number as well as the street address, there is a privacy risk.However, due to the relatively low number of occurrences, there is onlya moderate risk to the privacy concerns of “Bob Smith.” Due to theenormous number of occurrences for the email address (832 totaloccurrences), the report shows that “Bob Smith” has a very high risk ofreceiving spam.

As shown in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 through 6C, by performing asearch for sensitive information and generating a report of the obtainedresults, an individual can assess the level of vulnerability in variousareas. Once the level of vulnerability has been assessed, the individualcan take appropriate action to ameliorate the risks.

The search logic 205, the result logic 230, the score logic 235, theitemized search logic 210, the combined search logic 220, the itemizedscore logic 240, the combinatorial search logic 250, and their variouslogic components 215 a . . . 215 n (or simply 215), 225 a . . . 225 n(or simply 225), 245 a . . . 245 n (or simply 245), and 255 a . . . 255n (or simply 255) may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, ora combination thereof. In the preferred embodiment(s), the search logic205, the result logic 230, the score logic 235, the itemized searchlogic 210, the combined search logic 220, the itemized score logic 240,the combinatorial search logic 250, and their various logic components215, 225, 245, and 255 are implemented in software or firmware that isstored in a memory and that is executed by a suitable instructionexecution system. If implemented in hardware, as in an alternativeembodiment, the search logic 205, the result logic 230, the score logic235, the itemized search logic 210, the combined search logic 220, theitemized score logic 240, the combinatorial search logic 250, and theirvarious logic components 215, 225, 245, and 255 can be implemented withany or a combination of the following technologies, which are all wellknown in the art: a discrete logic circuit(s) having logic gates forimplementing logic functions upon data signals, an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC) having appropriate combinational logic gates,a programmable gate array(s) (PGA), a field programmable gate array(FPGA), etc.

Any process descriptions or blocks in flow charts should be understoodas representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include oneor more executable instructions for implementing specific logicalfunctions or steps in the process, and alternate implementations areincluded within the scope of the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention in which functions may be executed out of order from thatshown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverseorder, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understoodby those reasonably skilled in the art of the present invention.

The combinatorial analysis program 260 program, which comprises anordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logicalfunctions, can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by orin connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, ordevice, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, orother system that can fetch the instructions from the instructionexecution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. Inthe context of this document, a “computer-readable medium” can be anymeans that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport theprogram for use by or in connection with the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device. The computer-readable medium can be, forexample but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device,or propagation medium. More specific examples (a nonexhaustive list) ofthe computer-readable medium would include the following: an electricalconnection (electronic) having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette (magnetic), a random access memory (RAM) (electronic), aread-only memory (ROM) (electronic), an erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EPROM or Flash memory) (electronic), an optical fiber (optical),and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM) (optical). Notethat the computer-readable medium could even be paper or anothersuitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can beelectronically captured via, for instance, optical scanning of the paperor other medium, then compiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in asuitable manner if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.

Although exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, it will beclear to those of ordinary skill in the art that a number of changes,modifications, or alterations to the invention as described may be made.For example, while a personal computer 110 is shown as an exampleembodiment of a system, it should be appreciated that the system can beimplemented using other programmable devices, such as, for example, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet-capable cellulartelephone, etc.

It should also be appreciated that, while various server-based systems,client-based systems, and computer-readable media are disclosed, theprogram and logic components that execute the various functions of theprogram can be located either server-side or client-side. Also, itshould be appreciated that the various components can be located withina distributed networking environment. Since distributed networks, aswell as client-server environments, are known in the art furtherdiscussions of distributed networks and client-server environments isomitted here.

Additionally, it should be appreciated that the disclosed systems andmethods can be provided as a service to various subscribers. Thus, forthose embodiments, a user can purchase combinatorial-search services, asdisclosed above, from a service provider. That service provider willsubsequently provide the results of the combinatorial search for a fee.For some embodiments, the services can be subscribed to over a webinterface. For other embodiments, the services can also be subscribed toover the telephone, where the relevant information is provided over thetelephone.

For some embodiments, rather than purchasing services for combinatorialsearches, a user can purchase a software product that performs thecombinatorial search. In that regard, the software can be purchased as acomputer-readable medium, as described above, or downloaded from aweb-site in accordance with known techniques. In still otherembodiments, the combinatorial search may be packaged as a combinationof a product and a service. For example, a user can purchase softwarethat provides access to services from a combinatorial-search serviceprovider.

All such changes, modifications, and alterations should therefore beseen as within the scope of the disclosure.

1. A method, comprising: generating, by a processor, an electronicrequest for a search of electronic web pages, the electronic requestspecifying a name of an individual as a search term; sending, from anetwork interface under direction of the processor, the electronicrequest into a network for the search of the electronic web pages;receiving, at the network interface, an electronic listing of searchresults of the search, the electronic listing of the search resultsincluding a score for each search result in the electronic listing ofthe search results, the score based on a number of occurrences of thesearch term within each search result; selecting, by the processor, acombination of different search results in the electronic listing of thesearch results; determining, by the processor, a combinatorial scoreassociated with the combination of the different search results; anddetermining, by the processor, a security risk associated with the nameof the individual based on the score and on the combinatorial scoreassociated with the combination of the different search results.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising selecting the name of theindividual from a listing of search terms.
 3. The method of claim 2,further comprising selecting the name of the individual from sensitiveterms in the listing of search terms.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising querying a database for an additional search term having adatabase association to the name of the individual.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising retrieving additional search results for theadditional search term having the database association to the name ofthe individual.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying adatabase for a variant of the name of the individual.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, further comprising retrieving additional search results for thevariant of the name of the individual.
 8. A system, comprising: aprocessor; and a memory storing code that when executed causes theprocessor to perform operations, the operations comprising: retrievingan electronic listing of different search terms chosen by a user;selecting, from the electronic listing of the different search terms,different combinations of the different search terms; generatingelectronic requests for searches of electronic web pages, each one ofthe electronic requests specifying a combination of the differentcombinations of the different search terms; sending the electronicrequests into a network for the searches of the electronic web pages;receiving electronic search results of the searches; generating scoresfor the electronic search results of the searches, each one of thescores based on a number of occurrences in an electronic search resultfor a corresponding one of the different combinations of the differentsearch terms; selecting a combination of the scores for the differentcombinations of the different search terms; determining a combinatorialscore for the combination of the scores for the different combinationsof the different search terms; and determining a security riskassociated with the user based on the scores and on the combinatorialscore.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further compriseselecting the electronic listing of different search terms fromsensitive terms defined by the user.
 10. The system of claim 8, whereinthe operations further comprise querying a database for an additionalsearch term having a database association to one of the different searchterms.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations furthercomprise retrieving additional search results for the additional searchterm having the database association to the one of the different searchterms.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations furthercomprise querying a database for a variant having a database associationto one of the different search terms.
 13. The system of claim 12,wherein the operations further comprise retrieving additional searchresults for the variant having the database association to one of thedifferent search terms.
 14. The system of claim 8, wherein theoperations further comprise retrieving user-defined combinations of thedifferent search terms.
 15. A memory device storing instructions thatwhen executed cause a processor to perform operations, the operationscomprising: retrieving an electronic listing of different search termschosen by a user; selecting, from the electronic listing of thedifferent search terms, different combinations of the different searchterms; generating electronic requests for searches of electronic webpages, each one of the electronic requests specifying a combination ofthe different combinations of the different search terms; sending theelectronic requests into a network for the searches of the electronicweb pages; receiving electronic search results of the searches;generating scores for the electronic search results of the searches,each one of the scores based on a number of occurrences in an electronicsearch result for a corresponding one of the different combinations ofthe different search terms; selecting a combination of the scores forthe different combinations of the different search terms; determining acombinatorial score for the combination of the scores for the differentcombinations of the different search terms; and determining a securityrisk associated with the user based on the scores and on thecombinatorial score.
 16. The memory device of claim 15, wherein theoperations further comprise selecting the electronic listing ofdifferent search terms from sensitive terms defined by the user.
 17. Thememory device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprisequerying a database for an additional search term having a databaseassociation to one of the different search terms.
 18. The memory deviceof claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise retrievingadditional search results for the additional search term having thedatabase association to the one of the different search terms.
 19. Thememory device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprisequerying a database for a variant having a database association to oneof the different search terms.
 20. The memory device of claim 15,wherein the operations further comprise retrieving user-definedcombinations of the different search terms.